Of brooms, Bruins and Babcock’s creation: The rise of Brad Marchand

Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand celebrates after scoring the winning goal against New York Rangers. (AP)

Things we learned as the Maple Leafs held practice before Monday's home game against the Bruins:

Leafs coach Mike Babcock said he's lately been questioning a decision that may have provided a launching pad for Brad Marchand's best year yet. Babcock, in his role as Canada's head coach at September's World Cup of Hockey, paired Marchand, the Boston winger, alongside Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron on Canada's first line.

Marchand only led the tournament with five goals in six games while helping the host country to gold. It was a prelude to a career-best NHL season that has the 28-year-old in the Hart Trophy hunt.

"I was thinking about exactly that the other day - I was thinking I shouldn't have done that," Babcock said. "I should have put (Marchand) on the fifth line, sucked the life out of him."

The Leafs, who've won the first three meetings against the Bruins this season, have a rare chance to sweep the four-game season series on Monday.

It would be a memorable accomplishment, and not only because the Leafs sit three points back of Boston for third place in the Atlantic Division. The two franchises, after all, have been competing for more than 92 years. And through that near-century, only once have the Leafs swept a season series against Boston that was longer than two games. That happened way back in 1924-25, Boston's first year in the NHL.

Said Morgan Rielly, the Toronto defenceman: "It's a big opportunity to do something that hasn't been done in a long time."

The Bruins, Toronto's toughest Original Six opponent as measured by points percentage, swept the Leafs in a six-game season series as recently as 2011-12. Through the years they've swept multiple season series of varying lengths - a couple of four-gamers and two three-gamers. The Leafs, it should be said, did go undefeated against Boston in a couple of two-game season sets in the 1990s.

But the last time the Leafs wholly dominated a lengthier tete-a-tete, Toronto's team was still known as the St. Pats and the Bruins were derided in these pages as the "Boston nondescripts," and the shrivelling "Prunes." One night in 1924, when the Leafs throttled the "hopeless" Bruins 10-1, Boston's starting netminder, Hec Fowler, was later suspended and fined by team owner Art Ross for "not trying" after Boston pulled Fowler and stuck a defenceman in goal.

"The goalies should shoot the first shot of the shootout," Andersen said.

"That'd make the shootout better again. (The Leafs) haven't had much luck in the shootout. Maybe we should change things up. Put someone else in the net and I'll go shoot."

He was joking, but given that Andersen's team has a 1-8 record in the skills competition while he's sporting a .522 shootout save percentage, let's just say there's truth in humour.

Connor Carrick, who hasn't played for the Maple Leafs in nearly a month, could be in the lineup as early as Monday.

His absence has lasted longer than he ever expected - 11 games so far. Taken out of a Feb. 21 game against Winnipeg with an apparent shoulder injury, Carrick said it took him some time to realize he'd be facing a recovery period measured in weeks and not hours.

"You get a million injuries throughout the year where it hurts like all hell, but you wake up and it's fine. Or it hurts, you get massaged for 10 minutes, and it's fine," Carrick said. "And then there's things that go on with your body where it takes longer."

Babcock said the team will make a decision on Carrick's availability after the morning skate. Certainly the Leafs could use his puck-moving skill and tenacity.

"He likes to cross-check people, and I like that," Babcock said.

Carrick, for his part, said the road back has been incremental.

"When you first get injured, the things that bother you? Putting on socks. Deodorant. It's the little things. But it all comes back," he said. "One day wristers are OK, clappers are no good. Next day, clappers are OK, one-timers are no good. Next day, one-timers are OK, high flips are no good. It really does come to you inch by inch."

Leafs defenceman Roman Polak said early in the season he thought the Leafs would make the playoffs. "I'm more convinced of it now - we're playing good against good teams," he said.

Babcock, looking back on Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Blackhawks, shared a statistic from that outing. By the Leafs' internal count, the Blackhawks had six scoring chances. Toronto had five. Welcome to the playoff-race NHL, where coaches happily strangle offence in the constant quest for control.

"Scoring chances at the start (of the season) were easy to come by," Babcock said. "Now they're really hard to come by. And it's the same for the other team."

It's the same for most other teams, although the Bruins seem to be an exception. Since replacing head coach Claude Julien with Bruce Cassidy Feb. 7, the Bruins have reeled off a 12-4-0 record while averaging a league-best 3.9 goals a game.

Marchand has been a big reason for the surge. In those 16 games, he has 14 goals and 24 points. Blame Babcock, who seemed only half-serious about rethinking his World Cup lineup.

"You don't give him a boost. He earns that opportunity," Babcock said of Marchand, who is one point off the NHL scoring lead.

"He's . . . one of the best players right now in the league. No one's driving his team harder. It'll be fun to play against him."

Fun, perhaps, but no easy feat to win a fourth straight game against a divisional rival and historic nemesis.